Advent Calendar
by GirlonaBridge
Summary: Christmas comes to Syndicate 9, whether they like it or not. A 100 word drabble for every day running up to Christmas (I hope - if I can manage it)!
1. Chapter 1

**This is a Christmas present for the fangirls. I have no idea if I'm going to be able to keep this up, but I'm going to try, just for you! Please feel free to throw suggestions at me as I'll probably run out of ideas by the tenth if you don't. I will write whatever you would like in your Christmas stocking! X**

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"What's all this?"

DCI Murray stopped dead in the doorway to MIT. When she had left, last night, the office had been its usual bright, cluttered, plain and prosaic self.

Now, it sparkled. It glittered and dazzled and positively twinkled at her. Gill could feel a headache start to pulse at her temple. A head popped up from behind a tinsel-edged desk.

Kevin.

Framed by a set of multicoloured fairy lights strung between two lamps, he flashed her an elfin grin.

"Boss!"

Gill glared. Somewhere a bauble clattered self-consciously across the floor.

"I thought you'd like it."


	2. Chapter 2

**Word count disagrees with me, but my eyes tell me this is 100 words. Of all the problems I foresaw with this project, this was not one of them!**

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Janet's phone buzzed like a starting gun. Taisie and Elise both dove for it, sending thelayer of coffee table junk flying.

"Mum! Phone!" Elise held it high and beat a retreat out the door.

"It better not be bloody work," Taisie muttered as Elise gained the stairs, second best defensive position in the house.

"Oi language!" Janet hooked her phone from behind Elise, answered it.

"What's up?" The girls froze, all ears. Their Sunday rested on this.

"Yeah, I'm taking them Christmas shopping."

Taisie's eyes lit up. "Is that Rachel?"

Janet chuckled into the phone. "Your presence is requested."


	3. Chapter 3

"Is it snowing?" Rachel's disgust rang through the office as Pete and Lee tramped in, shedding white crusts from shoulders and boots.

Janet's head snapped up. She groaned.

"It's only Monday!"

"Well, we didn't arrange it", Pete snapped.

Everyone stared glumly out the windows at the heavy flakes flooding down, orange-tinted under the lamppost. It was going to make life a nightmare if this lot stuck. Pete stomped over to the radiator. Heads went down again slowly.

Behind her own office door, Gill stood, peered under the blind, touched her fingers to the glass. She smiled a secret smile.

Beautiful.


	4. Chapter 4

**I realised that yesterday's story wasn't going to happen when I only got home at one o'clock THIS morning, so there will be a double dose today... providing I make it through work in one piece!**

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Janet's hands shook.

It was the first Christmas card of the year, dropping through her letter box, a stiff white square. She picked it up without thinking until she turned it over and saw the writing.

Janet's hands shook.

Which surprised her because she thought she had dealt with all her feelings, she thought she had them all under control. And she wasn't even sure if it was anger or fear or frustration or something more intimate - foolish hope, and caring.

Janet's hands shook.

Five months of silence and now a Christmas card.

What could Andy want from her?


	5. Chapter 5

It was gone ten when Mitch pulled up outside his house and rubbed his eyes. Cold crept into the car as the heater died. Tough day, one of those, still flickered through his mind – stacks of paperwork, cramped forms crammed with writing, the young lad's hand lying open, a delicate layer of rime softening lifeless skin.

As he trudged and skidded up the drive, an odd shape in the garden turned his head. A two feet lump of snow proudly sporting a black cap and wobbly inscription – dAddY.

Mitch crouched beside it, laid his hand on its head.


	6. Chapter 6

**Just just just before midnight!**

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'Doesn't really feel like Christmas yet,' Pete remarked, tucking into his "seasonal" turkey sandwich at the briefing table.

Kevin muttered something about decorations but luckily nobody could understand him through his mouthful of chocolate muffin. Gill cast a baleful glance at him, just in case.

'I dunno mate,' Lee chipped in. 'The weather's crap, streets are heaving, shops chocked with sparkles and junk, uniform moaning about pick-pocketing and burglaries every time you walk down the corridor, and a few more festive murders for us to pick up. Sounds like Christmas to me.'

Lee grinned. Pete's shoulders slumped. 'Very bloody merry.'


	7. Chapter 7

It was a rare happy Friday that coincided with a result and the team repaired to The Grapes as soon as the last piece of absolutely necessary paperwork had been filed.

'I've still got to...' Janet's protests were ignored as Rachel and Kevin frogmarched her from the room.

'It will keep till morning.'

'Monday morning.'

Busier than they were used to on any Friday, the pub was hosting the first of its Christmas party nights. Music pounded. Gill was already dancing. Rachel handed Janet a glass of something highly coloured with a half-cheeky, half-pleading smile. Janet weakened.

'Go on then.'


	8. Chapter 8

'Any change Mister?'

Kevin, intent on clocking the CCTV cameras on the street, almost tripped over the lump sticking out of the doorway. He checked himself, peered closer, squinting in the dim light of dark patch between streetlights. It took him a minute to locate a face, not quite sure if it was male or female, just a kid. Dull eyes slid over him until they landed on his standard issue notebook and sharpened with fear. Coppers moved you on.

'Never mind.' The lump withdrew into a ball.

'Look,' Kevin paused. It was Christmas. 'D'you want a cup of tea'


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you for reading lovely people! If there is anything you would particularly like to see, please PM me or something. I am happy to take requests for this one.**

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'Jingle Bells is not a proper Christmas carol.' Pete folded his arms looking stubborn. Rachel's eyebrows shot up.

'Who made you the Christmas Police?'

'It's the first carol I ever learned,' Kevin chipped in.

'First and only,' murmured Rachel.'

'Hey I'm sticking up for you here!'

'It's still not a proper carol.'

Janet twirled in chair, pushing her enormous glasses down her nose to eye them all. 'Since nobody in this place is going to get any work done until you lot shut up, a carol is "a song of praise or joy."' She waved at her computer screen. 'Satisfied?'


	10. Chapter 10

**I realise this is only tangentially connected to Christmas but that's artistic licence and it was inspired by Jill's and Hannah's Christmas stories... somehow in my head ;)**

**Mari - thank you for your review and you will definitely get a Rachel/?DC? at a party, probably this weekend. That seems like a good time for a party!**

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Adrian was taking the girls to their Grandad's for mince pies and presents so when she saw he was calling her icy fear took Janet's breath.

'Ade? What's happened?'

'It's...' She heard him swallow, pictured his throat working.

'It's me dad.'

Warmth flooded through her again. Not her girls. Then a twinge of guilt, but Adrian was talking now he had got past beginning.

'… taken him in... heart attack... bit shaken up...'

'D'you want me to come pick them up?'

'It's not that I don't want them.'

'I know.' A tiny silence of understanding passed between them.

'Ten minutes.'


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for falling behind. Hectic couple of days. I will try to catch up!**

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Christmas shopping did not come easily to a SIO of a MIT, at least not when you worked for MMP it didn't. Perhaps, if you were on a force somewhere quiet... wherever that was.

Anyway, in the here and now – the here being the middle of Manchester, the now being the middle of a double murder investigation – she was struggling with the wretched present buying.

Best friends were the worst.

It was just as the suspect legged it that she spotted it. Sending her DCs after him with a nod, Julie peered closer in the dark window.

'Perfect.'


	12. Chapter 12

The slam of the door did not cover Sammy's swearing. The next second it sounded like a small hurricane erupted in the sitting-room but, when Gill shot into the room, all she found was a guilty teenager with his hands behind his back.

'Hi Mum!' Gill narrowed her eyes at him.

'What's going on?' She surveyed the room for damage. Sammy edged sidewise for the door.

'I'm just...' He clutched at something unseen. Gill was about to really start interrogating when her eyes fell on a tell-tale scrap of shiny paper.

'Go on.' Suddenly hoarse, she turned away, blinking, smiling.


	13. Chapter 13

Janet made sure to point out to which decorations were the ones their Grandad had made.

Gill always made it to her Dad's, slithering along wet gravel with a holly wreath.

Pete said a rosary for his Mum before Midnight Mass – she would have liked that.

Kevin skited into church when it was quiet and lit a candle for his Grandparents.

Lee remembered his Nan particularly when he closed the curtains on winter nights.

Mitch thought of lost friends on Christmas morning, after the kids' presents.

Julie raised a glass to all the empty places.

Rachel missed her brother.

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**This is for Ella.**


	14. Chapter 14

**For mari - hope this meets your request! :D Merry Christmas!**

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The party had veered through awkwardly quiet, pleasantly chatty, raucous, silly, and had reached the stage of dark and hazy when Rachel leaned against the wall outside, smoking her last cigarette. She didn't remember smoking the rest of the pack. Music wafted out through the opening door and she looked up as Lee joined her.

'Wanna share?' He shook his head.

Rachel found herself leaning against him without noticing how. How tall he was, how strong. She didn't usually notice. How good he smelled.

She chucked the fag, pressed into him, inhaled deeply and lifted her face into his kiss.


	15. Chapter 15

'What the hell are you doing here?'

Rachel's head shot up and she tried to cover guilt with bolshiness.

'Err, working.'

Gill folded her arms.

'Saturday morning! Have you not got Christmas shopping to do, or something?'

Rachel scowled.

'I hate Christmas.'

Annoyance changed to surprise and Gill perched on the corner of the desk.

'Why?'

'It's always shit. Just makes you remember the stuff you haven't got. What you've lost.'

Surprise deepened to concern as she read the bleakness in Rachel's eyes.

'Hey,' softly Gill touched her shoulder.

'Christmas is a time for families, so I'm glad you're here.'


	16. Chapter 16

Haydn carefully ignored his Mum's strained smile and his Dad's near bursting with pride as he gazed around the church. He would have liked to ignore the action going on around him as well. 2nd Shepherd was a pathetic part. However, he had another job to do – prompting Ben – and his bit was coming up.

In shuffled Three Wise Kings in trainers.

'I bring Gold,' Devon declaimed.

'I bring Myrrh,' rattled off Justin, who never learned to wait his turn. Haydn leaned forward and whispered. Terrified and determined, Ben squeaked his line at full volume.

'I bring Frankenstein.'


	17. Chapter 17

Syndicate 9 were all more or less nursing their wounds whilst trying to finish interview prep for the suspects they had hauled in, quite literally, that morning.

Rachel had a rapidly darkening bruise on her left cheek. Kevin kept dabbing at a split lip that kept re-splitting. Janet winced as she shifted in her chair. Even a stab vest had not been enough protection from the flying fists of the Graham brothers resisting arrest.

It was a result, although painfully won.

'Are my carol singers ready?' Sergeant Pierce with an armful of Santa hats and collecting buckets.

The team glared.


	18. Chapter 18

'Sergeant Scott?'

Janet opened her eyes. It had been a long, a very long, day in court. The case she had been in for wasn't any too comfortable. Experienced as she was, Janet had found herself balling her hands under the edge of her jacket when the defence had practically told the jury that the victim had asked for it, had deserved it even. Janet gritted her teeth, remembering, then she smiled very gently at the victim's mother who stood before her.

'Thank you. Holly, it's her birthday next week. At least, we've got justice for her. We've got peace.'


	19. Chapter 19

**I couldn't resist! Thank you for reading and reviewing :)**

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Kevin had mistletoe.

So far, he'd managed to kiss Rachel's elbow. She had proved surprisingly good, and determined, at dodging him. Janet had given him a big smacking "Mumsie" kiss, making it as embarrassing as possible. Kevin had blushed. All the fellas were avoiding him, just in case.

He was wobbling on a chair, trying to fix it to a light, when Gill stormed out of her office.

'Kevin!'

He jerked. The chair's wheels went and he pitched bodily forward.

Everybody froze.

Kevin lay half on top of Gill, both groaning, with the mistletoe dangling above them.

'Don't... You... Dare.'


	20. Chapter 20

Rachel glanced over at Kevin, sulking at his desk. Bits of dried up mistletoe littered the surface, dropping from the twig stuck up above. She smirked.

He looked up, pitiful puppy-dog eyes that he quickly shut down on seeing her expression. Oh what the hell, she thought. It's Christmas – I'll throw him a bone.

She skidded her chair towards him. His eyes didn't even show the faintest flicker of hope.

He was so used to expecting a piss-take that he didn't realise what was happening until he was pressed back against his desk's edge by Rachel snogging him hard.


	21. Chapter 21

**It's nearly Christmas! I realise I have been counting down the days but I'm still surprised at this fact. There are only a few "doors" left on this calendar and I plan to fill them with lots of Christmas kisses so if you have any demands for specific pairings, get them in now! x**

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It was sweet, kissing Gill Murray. Sweet, surprisingly soft, and surprisingly easy - to kiss again, again, deeper and slower.

Gill tilted her head back and rested her hands against Mitch's broad shirt. She felt light, still encircled in his arms, the fabric warm under her fingers. He looked down at her seriously.

This was not a friendly hug. This was not a mistletoe kiss, even for an empty office. This was not what they had meant to happen. A gift.

'What are we doing?' She whispered.

'We shouldn't...' His voice was low.

But it was sweet, oh so sweet.


	22. Chapter 22

**Gill/Rachel as requested - hope it's ok. It took me ages to cut it down to 100 words! **

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'What the hell did you think you were playing at?' Gill banged open the door to the ladies'.

Rachel lifted her head from the sink and squinted at the scratch across her forehead.

'That was reckless, dangerous, totally unprofessional. If you've compromised the case...'

Rachel thumped the sink, blinking tears. Idiot to let a suspect get to her, just for insulting her... boss.

Gill caught Rachel's fist, tugged gently until she turned close into her. There was a moment – then surprised open lips met soft insistent ones, hopefully.

'Don't scare me like that.'

Rachel nodded into her unceasing kisses.


	23. Chapter 23

**Obviously, these chapters don't really exist in the same universe, otherwise it would be a very busy Christmas for Gill and Rachel (they do seem to get about). Tomorrow will be Rachel/Janet because they're my own favourite pairing. **

**Mari - I'm sorry, I just can't write nice Andy/Janet things. I can't stand that man. I would try, seeing as you've been so lovely reading and reviewing this, but I know if I did I would make it horrible and that's not fair. Sorry!**

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'I'm dreeeeeaaming of a whiiiiite Chrissmusss!'

Gill and Julie staggered down the street, arm in arm.

'Keep dreaming love, it's pissing down.'

Gill swung round with a bump.

'Oh! Hang on.' She pulled out the gift Julie had presented her with earlier: an antique brass-handled magnifying glass. She peered through it up at the sky, then swivelled to examine her friend's wet hair and face.

'Bugger.' Julie couldn't help smiling.

'Somebody's going to have to make this up to me.' Their eyebrows raised on each side of the glass as they drew closer.

'I wonder who that's going to be.'


	24. Chapter 24

**Thank you to everyone who has read this, you're all wonderful and you have kept me going with this even when I've felt totally stuck for ideas or too tired to bother. And your reviews have all been like Christmas presents. :)**

**Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all have happy, peaceful holidays. xx**

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Rachel woke to the familiar scent of Janet, the heavy warmth of her head on her shoulder and the softness of lips pressing into her collarbone. She shifted lazily, wrapping herself into the older woman's arms and feeling, rather than seeing, her smile. Rachel recalled the evening of mince pies, wine, Christmas films with Taisie and Elise, then cuddling up with Janet and...

'Mmm Rach?' Janet wriggled herself looser. Rachel blinked at her.

'I have to go play Santa. Want to help?'

Rachel bit in her smile, her heart aching. For the first time in thirty-three years, she loved Christmas.


End file.
